ANAHEIM – The final images of the 2013-14 season for the Ducks had the Kings busting through their back line of defense in a Game7 they wished had never happened.

It raised again the question of whether they truly have a championship-level defense when the stakes are at their highest. Even as a new year has beckoned, Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau has defended their performance behind their blue line.

But the question won’t go away as long as they don’t have a defender such as Drew Doughty or Shea Weber or Ryan Suter, a Norris Trophy-type to control games and shut down dangerous offensive players.

The way Pittsburgh blew past them for odd-man rush after odd-man rush in the season opener didn’t inspire any further confidence, but the Ducks have been getting the job done ever since.

“We just buckled down,” Boudreau said. “We knew we had a good defense. We were a pretty good defensive team last year. To me, it was just a bad game. It wasn’t a question of having to rewrite yourself or anything else.

“Since then, we’ve been pretty good, I thought, defensively. Hopefully we can continue. If you look at the teams that have won the (Stanley) Cup, they are high in the (defensive) standings.”

Frederik Andersen’s terrific start in goal has played a part in limiting the goals against, but the Ducks have been making the extra effort to block shots or tie up sticks down low. During their six-game win streak, the Ducks have allowed two or fewer goals in five of them.

Cam Fowler’s continued improvement as a defender is an example. One who was victimized repeatedly by the Penguins, Fowler has been a plus-7 during their six-game winning streak.

Fowler also doesn’t believe the Ducks have changed much with their approach.

“I don’t think (it’s) anything really besides the work ethic,” Fowler said. “When we tend to get into run-and-gun games is when we get into trouble. We’re a team that likes to really grind you down and forecheck style of game.

“We didn’t do that in Pittsburgh and that’s why you saw the result that you saw. We got back to our formula of hockey the last six games. That’s when we have success.”

As a top-line defender and minutes eater, Fowler’s success there has a huge bearing on how the Ducks do overall.

“I think after the first game, he’s been defending really well,” Boudreau said. “When he starts using his skating and he’s defending really well, he becomes a threat a both ends of the ice. And that’s what he is.

“I think him and Ben (Lovejoy) work really well together. They’ve started to get their stuff together in the last few games. Once he gets a goal offensively, he will start to take off.”

SMITH-PELLY IMPROVES

Points aren’t coming by the bushel to Devante Smith-Pelly as they are to Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry but the winger isn’t being a bystander on the top line.

Smith-Pelly has stayed there for the time being because he has consistently been throwing his weight around and winning puck battles. Boudreau said he has seen a marked difference in his play as each game passes.

“From the beginning of training camp until now, it’s night and day,” Boudreau said. “And when he’s finishing checks and being involved in the game, he’s a real dynamic player. People don’t realize he’s almost 220 pounds.”

Boudreau said Smith-Pelly works well with Getzlaf and Perry because he also likes to cycle the puck below the circles as the other two do. “I think he’s gaining confidence as each game goes along,” the coach said.

It was one of the reasons why Smith-Pelly led the Ducks with five goals in last season’s playoffs. For his part, Smith-Pelly isn’t worried about his place in the pecking order even as he is becoming an everyday regular for the first time.

“Really the last couple of years, I haven’t thought about stuff like that,” said Smith-Pelly, who got his second goal of the year off a pass from Perry on Friday night. “I’m trying to help the team win. I’m trying to play as well as I can so that the team does well.

“I’m not really looking at lineup changes and who’s hurt and who I’m going to play with. All that stuff. Doesn’t really matter to me.”

THEODORE BACK ON ICE

Defenseman Shea Theodore, the Ducks’ top pick in 2013, practiced with the team as he took another step in his recovery from an ulnar collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow.

Theodore, 19, is still two or three weeks away from playing and is ticketed to return to Seattle of the Western Hockey League, where he led all defensemen in scoring last season.

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